Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 166: Behind the Scenes

Just as everyone, who received a copy of Black Haven's findings, finished reading the research, the common people received a simpler version of the research. The version mostly have the general information while the advance and latter parts of the research were not included.

It was Black Haven Guild who distributed the simple version via Evo's orders. Only the higher echelons of each faction knew of the deal, so the people didn't know that their leaders actually paid for it.

With Black Haven's initiative to distribute the information, they would be viewed as generous and kind by the people.

People who were still undecided whether to try the Black Haven's Guild services gained courage and tried to be the first batch of interested individuals.

As the group of people entered the mall's parking lot, they were greeted by Black Haven's Angels. They're young and experienced woman who always remain presentable no matter what time of the day. They always had a charming smile on their faces, that could soothe anyones anger.

People who were curious about the changes in Black Haven went towards the Customer Service booth, while others who already read the advertisement of the bus, split up and went to their own destinations.

All of the booths have signage on what the booth offers.

There were atleast ten people standing around the Customer Service section as Dyna explained the recent changes with Black Haven.

In general, the Guild mainly revolves around contribution points. 

A new advertisement system is introduced. A contribution system would be implemented together with an individual ranking system and Evo made sure that the system could be understood even by the children. 

Advertisements for job requests would be submitted for evaluation. A corresponding difficulty would be given to the job request and only an individual who had the same or higher rank can accept the said job. Black Haven would shoulder half of the expense for the reward money, encouraging people to use their service.

This could be considered as being a mercenary but Black Haven calls it a business model commonly known as Agency. The people who completes requests would be called agents.

Everyone can register as an agent by simply filling up a form that, aside from basic information like name and age, requires them to divelge their current level and stats. On Black Haven's defense, it is a required information to determine and evaluate the individuals current rank.

Upon registration, everyone would start at the bottom rank, Rank 0. There are currently 11 ranks available, Rank 0 to 10, with Rank 0 as the lowest and Rank 10 as the highest. People who reach an average of 10 stat points would be promoted to Rank 1. It was okay if an individual has imbalanced stat allocation as long as the average stat reaches 10 points. Same for other ranks, Rank 2 needs an average of 20 stat points while Rank 3 needs an average of 30 stat points, and so on.

The information regarding absorbing points from other people wasn't publicized on purpose. It would cause a huge amount of trouble for everyone. Currently, even in Black Haven, only a select few knew of this information.

Contribution points is currently on beta status and is subject to change. The main purpose of the contribution points was to regulate who could buy what and who could know what. Tiered items would only be sold to those who have enough contribution in limited quantities. Contribution could also be used to browse Black Haven's Guild Library. It was an e-platform database managed and protected by Evo. It contains a wide range of information hidden from the publicskills, techniques, title effects, individual information, etcetera. This informations were classified in tiers depending on their evaluated importance.

To be honest, Evo hadn't finished the system, but he isn't troubled. He knew that people have to adopt to the front desk before even trying out the back office. He believes that he have enough time to set everything up.

The Frontier and Alliance of Small Parties had no violent reactions towards Black Haven's action of distributing the information, but PNP Paolo Canlas didn't appreciate it. He could have used the information to increase the public's trust towards the government if he was the one who released it. He was angry but he couldn't do anything about it. Besides, the version the public received was too general and vague, only giving common knowledge and explanations about the carrier. 

Three days passed in a blink of an eye. The people moved on and adopted to the changes. There were still night markets going on but mostly have food stalls and drinking parties.

Most of the goods were being sold and bought at Black Haven Guild to earn some contribution points. The advertisement bus was given a renovation. A long board was placed that reached from end to end. Job requests like escort missions and visiting home missions were the most common for the last few days. People wanted to check their homes for one last look and hoped that they bumped into people they know. Requests that were malicious or were trying to find a loophole were instantly rejected with additional punishment.

Individuals who colluded with each other to earn the 'half payment' from Black Haven were tracked and punished by resetting their contribution points and retrieving the money. Black Haven has everyone's information. Their relatives, their friends, and whomever they hang out.

Evo had secretly installed security cameras on the streets. These security cameras were directly connected to his personal database. Catching this kind of people was easy. He just need to search for the replay when the two parties divided the money. As for proof? It was their card's transaction history.

Sooner or later, people could find a way to exploit this system, but for the mean time. Everyone is abiding it.

As people become stronger and richer, the transportation industry boomed. It was simply because they have to travel further if they wanted to hunt carriers. Mechanics were the ones who gained a lot after the recent events. Scooters and motors are parked and stumbled on the roadsides. Cars where everywhere.

In short, vehicles littered the streets. A man collected all of the vehicles he could find and started selling them at a fixed price. As he sold them, he also reminded his buyers that he was a mechanic and can repair cars for a small fee. He would always add a 'warning' that a not properly maintained car could break down at the middle of a horde.

Most of the people weren't knowledgeable with cars. Only car owners, enthusiasts or people in this line of work could possibly know about them. With the man's advise, every time a car was bought, its owner would come once every two days to ask for repairs, netting additional income.

As the overall strength of the people were still average, people still chose to hunt in groups. With the help of some elite, they were able to level safely.

Dungeons were the hot commodity since it respawns unlimited mobs. The only downside of the dungeon was that it only has low tier mobs. The people already got used to it and were wanting for more excitement. The rush; the fear they felt when the unknown almost killed them. They want to get revenge now that they were strong and want to release themselves from being scared. They are strong now. They became true survivors.

The dungeons were being shared by the four factions. A rotation was made to ease the dungeon distribtuion. For example, Black Haven will have the rights to use the Cemetery Dungeon today, tomorrow they remain on standby. The next day, they have the right to enter the Northern Mine dungeon, and the following day would be their rest day. This round robin served as a great balance for everyone since each faction can take breaks in between expeditions.

As the number of areas become cleared, the number of people rescued increase. The population bubbled up causing a large number of fresh recruits to take in.

On the lowest layer of the Northern Mines, Black Haven discovered a 5m tall Giant Rat being guarded by two 2m Giant Rats. Edward named the 5m Giant Rat as King Giant Rat.

Jun leaned behind an overturned van as he scouted his surroundings. In front of him was a long strip mall with various shops. On the other side of the street was a three-story building with a sniper on top.

He was walking on the middle street when he felt something ominous. The next thing he knew, he was being gunned down by someone.

"Leave every food you took from that convenience store and I'll let you go."

The voice sounded hoarse and Jun was sure that it was an adult man.

"Is it your store?" replied Jun. He didn't let his guard down as he looked around, searching the alleyways for an escape route.

By using his Time Perse's soul state, he was able to see where the man was shooting from. He was on the third window of the buildings second floor. It was an apartment building with almost the same floor plans bottom up. A fire escape stairs could be seen on the side.

Two teenagers were closing on him from the other side, wielding iron pipes. Not wanting unneccessary trouble, Jun wore the cloak's hood and waited for the right timing before dashing towards the nearest shop.